The dB's 'Repercussion' Set For Reissue Including Vinyl Debut

(HW) Repercussion, the second album by The dB's, will be reissued on CD, vinyl (its first time on vinyl in the US) and all digital platforms on October 18, 2024, through Propeller Sound Recordings.

The first digital single will be "Neverland," due out on August 28, followed by "Ask for Jill" on September 25. Both will be available on streaming services. When The dB's released their debut Stands for deciBels in January 1981, critics were virtually unanimous. The New York City (by way of North Carolina) quartet had delivered a set of songs that was smart and irresistible, rooted in rock traditions yet fresh and new. Intelligent lyrics, inventive melodies and sharp hooks were wedded to a forward-looking musical sensibility. Drawing influences from both well-known and obscure-but-great sources, The dB's earned widespread praise. What they didn't find, however, were significant sales. Stands for deciBels was released in the UK, and available in the US only as a pricey import.

But the group - guitarist Chris Stamey, guitarist and keyboardist Peter Holsapple, bassist Gene Holder and drummer Will Rigby - knew they had something special. So just a few months after their debut album's release, The dB's re-entered the studio with a strong and unified sense of purpose. The result of those sessions was 1982's Repercussion.

While the band's debut had been recorded in various sessions over a period of months, Repercussion would be a more focused, intentional project. Teaming up with first-time producer Scott Litt (later to find acclaim for his work with R.E.M.) the band recorded in London over a seven-week period in summer 1981. There would be no "sophomore slump" for The dB's; the group had a surplus of original songs from which to choose. Like the debut record, The dB's' second album would feature split songwriting credits: half by Holsapple, half by Stamey.

The two were very different songwriters. Where Peter might find inspiration in an old Bo Diddley tune, Chris could be sparked by the work of modernist classical composer Charles Ives. But the musical cohesion of The dB's yielded twelve songs that hold together as a distinctive whole. Repercussion would serve up a bouquet of classics: Holsapple's "Amplifier" and Stamey's "From a Window to a Screen" are among the record's standouts, but the quality never flags.

The dB's filtered their diverse inspirations through their own collective sensibility, creating truly original music in the process. Rigby describes his drum groove on "Storm Warning" as punk rhumba. Holsapple's "Nothing is Wrong" conjures a feel that recalls Big Star co-founder Chris Bell's "I Am the Cosmos." Stamey's "In Spain" was inspired by both Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and pioneering NYC band Television.

Live dates had helped sharpen The dB's into a self-sufficient unit, but that didn't keep the band from enlisting select musical pals to help out on the album as needed. The Rumour Brass are featured on "Living a Lie." Be-Bop Deluxe's Andy Clark plays a "steel drum" keyboard patch on one track. And The Who's John Entwistle loaned Holder his thunderous eight-string bass for "Neverland."

On its release, Repercussion met a similar fate as its predecessor: Enthusiastic reviews (Trouser Press called it "a great advance over the debut" - and they praised the debut) were coupled with hard-to-find status (UK-only release yet again). But those who heard, loved.

The Propeller Sound release includes newly assembled reminiscences of the experience of recording Repercussion by members of the band plus Scott Litt, with previously unpublished photos. The LP presents the band's original track sequence. The CD will include a bonus track, Holsapple's "pH Factor," a live-in-the-studio single B-side left off the original release but included on the long out-of-print I.R.S. Records CD reissue in 1989.

Repercussion would be the last release from the original quartet until the bravura Falling Off the Sky some 30 years later. Over the years, live dates by the core four would be nearly as rare as those first two LPs. But in celebration of the domestic release of Repercussion on vinyl (Propeller Sound Recordings, October 18), The dB's have scheduled a run of US dates.

Repercussion Tracklist:
"Living a Lie" (Holsapple) - 3:26
"We Were Happy There" (Holsapple) - 2:39
"Happenstance" (Stamey) - 4:07
"From a Window" (Stamey) - 2:34
"Amplifier" (Holsapple) - 3:08
"Ask for Jill" (Stamey) - 2:33
"I Feel Good (Today)" (Stamey) - 4:28
"Storm Warning" (Holsapple) - 2:32
"Ups and Downs" (Stamey) - 3:03
"Nothing Is Wrong" (Holsapple) - 4:16
"In Spain" (Stamey) - 3:02
"Neverland" (Holsapple) - 2:46

CD and digital only bonus track:
13. "pH Factor" (Holsapple) - 2:30

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